The discipline of evolutionary psychology views modern human behaviors as products of natural selection that acted on the psychological traits of our ancestors. A subdiscipline, evolutionary psychiatry tries to find evolutionary explanations for mental disorders.
How regularly do you use outcome measures to assess how well your patients with depression are doing? Research suggests many psychiatrists avoid such measures, believing that they are aren’t trained to use them; that they take too much time; or that they aren’t clinically helpful.1
Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is noninvasive focused brain stimulation that uses pulsed magnetic fields. The underlying mechanism depends on the principle of electromagnetic induction, the process (discovered by Faraday in 1839) by which electrical energy is converted into a magnetic field and vice versa.1
This is the second installment of a new series in which clinically relevant research is briefly discussed and, perhaps more important, a few tips on how to read and interpret research studies are presented. Your feedback, suggestions, and questions are eagerly solicited at rajnish.mago@jefferson.edu.
Insurance restrictions sometimes make for strange bedfellows. My story begins with a phone call from a man about to lose his job. He said that he had been placed on probation and was about to be fired. He asked if he could see me. We met the following day.
Pilots will no longer be banned from flying if they are taking an SSRI antidepressant.
Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) devices are undergoing FDA scrutiny and could become subject to new requirements and restrictions that affect their use by psychiatrists. The FDA is considering whether to keep ECT devices in their current Class III category or drop them to Class II.
It is safe to say that few authors of mental health–related books would introduce themselves by presenting these credentials:
Writer Jonah Lehrer caused quite a stir with his recent article in the New York Times Magazine, with the unfortunate title, “Depression’s Upside.” I have a detailed rejoinder to this misleading article posted on the Psychcentral website.
Although a large body of research has documented the risk factors for and negative effects of depression in mothers, little is known about depression in expectant or new fathers.
The term “evidence” has become about as controversial as the word “unconscious” had been in its Freudian heyday, or as the term “proletariat” was in another arena.
What do we know about circadian rhythms and melatonin? And what further lessons do we need about circadian rhythms, light exposure, and melatonin to help our patients with disturbed sleep/wake cycles?
For both depression and anxiety disorders in youths, there is increasing evidence of clinical benefit from cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT).
Results of a large study funded by the National Institute of Mental Health showed that electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) might be equally effective in both patients with unipolar depression and those with bipolar depression. The study, led by Samuel H. Bailine, MD, assistant professor in the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Zucker Hillside Hospital, Glen Oaks, NY, showed that the remission rate in both patient groups was higher than 60%.
Charles Bowden, MD, clinical professor in the department of psychiatry at the University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, describes the management of patients with bipolar depression who are pregnant.
Low levels of 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylglycol (MHPG) in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) or bipolar depression were shown to be associated with increased risk of suicide attempts. Hanga Galfalvy, PhD, assistant professor of clinical neurobiology at Columbia University and the New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, and her colleagues found that patients with the lowest levels of MHPG at baseline were more likely to commit highly lethal suicidal acts.
All pregnant women should be screened for bipolar disorder, according to a recent article by Verinder Sharma, MB, BS, professor of psychiatry and obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, and colleagues. This is because bipolar depression may be misdiagnosed as major depressive disorder in the postpartum period, resulting in delays in appropriate treatment.
Charles Bowden, MD, clinical professor in the department of psychiatry at the University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, describes the challenges physicians face when they treat patients with bipolar depression.
Charles Bowden, MD, clinical professor in the department of psychiatry at the University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, describes the challenges physicians face when they assess and diagnose bipolar depression.
Current guidelines for the management of bipolar depression are outdated because they are based on the definition and treatment of unipolar depression, according to Eduard Vieta, MD, PhD, director of the bipolar disorders program at the University Clinic Hospital of Barcelona, Spain. Dr Vieta led a study to create new definitions and algorithms for the management of treatment-resistant bipolar I and bipolar II depression.
Although rapid-cycling bipolar disorder has been linked to the use of antidepressants, these treatments may still have a role in the management of patients with bipolar depression, said Stephen V. Sobel, MD, clinical instructor at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, in a presentation at the U.S. Psychiatric and Mental Health Congress in Las Vegas.
Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) may be an effective therapy for treatment-resistant bipolar depression, according to the results of a recent pilot study led by Guohua Xia, MD, PhD, assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of California, Davis.
Major depressive disorder is common during childbearing. Depression that interferes with function develops in an estimated 14.5% of pregnant women. Some statistics are troubling in that only 13.8% of pregnant women who screen positive for depression actually receive treatment.
The prevalence of depression in children and adolescents ranges from 2% to 8% in the general population, which indicates that depression in this population is a major public health concern.1-3 This is especially apparent when rates of depression are compared with other serious medical conditions in childhood, such as diabetes, which has a prevalence of 0.18%.4 The burden of depressive illness-including significant functional impairment in interpersonal relationships, school, and work-on the developing child has been well documented. Affected youths are frequently involved in the juvenile justice system.5-8 Furthermore, adolescents with depression are at increased risk for substance abuse, recurrent depression in adulthood, and attempted or completed suicide.3,9-15
I just read and enjoyed “Treatment-Resistant Bipolar Disorder”1 at www.PsychiatricTimes.com, and wanted to thank the author for pulling together a great deal of useful information in a succinct and lucid format.
